Well i'm sure you have probably heard of Halo_Legends which makes me wonder if Halo is popular over in Japan because if it is then that is an amazing accomplishment for an Xbox 360 exclusive FPS to be popular there where the 360 sells poorly and FPS games don't usually do well. Any thoughts?
I think the question might be more along the lines of "is anime popular in the west?" which it is. It's entirely likely Microsoft just thought Halo anime would be cool and it doesn't really have anything to do with actually trying to appeal to their Japanese audience. It could also be an attempt to sell the Halo universe to a Japanese audience through a medium they'll accept.
Whatever the case I highly doubt Halo enjoys much popularity over there.
@Neon941: Indeed, I think it is safer to say anime is more popular outside of Japan than Halo being popular in Japan. Heck, I actually know quite a few hardcore Halo fans that really like anime. I assume they fell in love with the idea of this movie thing.
"I think the question might be more along the lines of "is anime popular in the west?" which it is. It's entirely likely Microsoft just thought Halo anime would be cool and it doesn't really have anything to do with actually trying to appeal to their Japanese audience. It could also be an attempt to sell the Halo universe to a Japanese audience through a medium they'll accept. Whatever the case I highly doubt Halo enjoys much popularity over there. "
"I think the question might be more along the lines of "is anime popular in the west?" which it is. It's entirely likely Microsoft just thought Halo anime would be cool and it doesn't really have anything to do with actually trying to appeal to their Japanese audience. It could also be an attempt to sell the Halo universe to a Japanese audience through a medium they'll accept. Whatever the case I highly doubt Halo enjoys much popularity over there. "
Not 100% sure but I am pretty certain after that first week it almost completely fell off the charts, at least far down enough to not even matter compared to other titles.
From what I understand there is a cult-following for games like Halo and Modern Warfare across the Pacific. Kind of like Atlus games in Western markets. CheapyD of Cheap Ass Gamer and the CAGcast sometimes talks about it. One of the explanations is motion sickness (aka 3D sickness). A lot of Japanese people complain of nausea after playing First-Person Shooters. It's probably due to lack of exposure to that type of game play. To compensate for the sickness Japanese consumers feel, developers have switched to Third-Person Shooters to provide similar action gaming. That's why Lost Planet from Capcom plays the way it does. Also, Resident Evil 4 & 5 and the Metal Gear Solid games. But, that alone isn't enough to move units in Japan. According to VGChartz.com, neither Gears of War 1 or 2 broke 100,000 in that market. The Halo franchise sold better at about 300,000 units for the 3 main games combined. You must remember that the Xbox is not a popular system there. Perhaps if the games had been released on the PS3 (I know it ain't gonna happen) then they would have fared better. Modern Warfare 2 is distributed by SquareEnix in Japan. The 360 edition sold approximately 70,000 units while the PS3 version sold 200,000 units.
" A lot of Japanese people complain of nausea after playing First-Person Shooters. It's probably due to lack of exposure to that type of game play."
Huh, that's strange. The first time I played Wolfenstein 3D or Doom, I didn't get nausea. And that was when I had a lack of exposure to that type of game play.
"I think the question might be more along the lines of "is anime popular in the west?" which it is. It's entirely likely Microsoft just thought Halo anime would be cool and it doesn't really have anything to do with actually trying to appeal to their Japanese audience. It could also be an attempt to sell the Halo universe to a Japanese audience through a medium they'll accept. Whatever the case I highly doubt Halo enjoys much popularity over there. "
Not 100% sure but I am pretty certain after that first week it almost completely fell off the charts, at least far down enough to not even matter compared to other titles. "
does Japan always sell that low every week? damn! those sales are pretty pitiful..
EDIT: never mind. i saw it said lowest selling week
@Delta_Ass: I don't think it's genetic or anything like that, I believe it has to do with how often a person sees that particular 3D motion effect. I don't think it's limited to just FPS games, although that is where it appears to be the most acute. I've read that games like Wipeout HD and Rez can cause a similar reaction. I'm no doctor, but it's my understanding that motion sickness results when the input from the eyes (seeing the motion of the game) differs from what the inner ear (where balance is measured) is communicating. That's why you're told to close your eyes when seasick on a boat. But, people who work on boats often get over the illness as their bodies and brains adjust to the conflicting information. So, it's my theory that if you are exposed to a lot more of these types of games, especially growing up, you'll be much less likely to suffer from 3D sickness. But, even then there is no guarantee. I read that when making Mirror's Edge, the developers had to include a visual dot in the center of the screen for players to focus on because their game testers kept getting sick from Faith's first-person perspective.
"I think the question might be more along the lines of "is anime popular in the west?" which it is. It's entirely likely Microsoft just thought Halo anime would be cool and it doesn't really have anything to do with actually trying to appeal to their Japanese audience. It could also be an attempt to sell the Halo universe to a Japanese audience through a medium they'll accept. Whatever the case I highly doubt Halo enjoys much popularity over there. "
Not 100% sure but I am pretty certain after that first week it almost completely fell off the charts, at least far down enough to not even matter compared to other titles. "
does Japan always sell that low every week? damn! those sales are pretty pitiful.. EDIT: never mind. i saw it said lowest selling week "
Even then, you also have to remember Japan doesn't have near as many people as other places too :P
From what I understand there is a cult-following for games like Halo and Modern Warfare across the Pacific.
Really that extends to all Western games in Japan. The big hits like Oblivion, Halo, MW, and GTA get some sales there. As far as it goes it seems Japanese are far less likely to buy Western games than vice versa, which is really disappointing. Just goes back to basic xenophobia. Basically in Japan most gamers think Western games are inferior, but there isn't solid grounding for that perception.
As far as overall sales, Japan's gaming market is really not very healthy. Japan has a lower population than the US by far, but the amount spent on gaming per capita is downright sad.
" One of the explanations is motion sickness (aka 3D sickness). A lot of Japanese people complain of nausea after playing First-Person Shooters. It's probably due to lack of exposure to that type of game play. "
Funny, I get motion sickness from watching japanese movies, they swing the camera around like a lasso. Shit, they love them some cheesy matrix-style camera movements.
Everyone is different so there is no set way to foretell if you are are likely to get motion sickness or how you might get it. I'm sure there are folks around Giant Bomb that can play Halo and Half-Life until the cows come home, but put them on a boat or a plane and they're reaching for the upchuck baggie.
This is what Jun Takeuch, producer of Lost Planet had to say : SOURCE
We wanted to add shooting with more action and put it in the third person so Japanese people could get into it a lot more. A lot of Japanese people that play first-person shooters or watch the screen get motion sickness, so putting it into more of a realm of control with the camera and layout the Japanese could play was one thing.
Other Japanese developers like Yoshiaki Koizumi SOURCE and Takao Shimizu SOURCE, both of Nintendo, also mention motion sickness when developing games.
Well I would say that motion sickness from movies and games are pretty much the same kind. Except the theatre screen is bigger, thus more evil that way. Cloverfield front row made me want to die.
The key difference is that you're in control of the camera in games, so you can at least predict the movements and compensate. Which really gives no excuse for games. That's like getting sick when you run or something.
Not really. In fact, I'm sure there's a Japanese Yahtzee who's well known for hating a genre of games about meathead space marines juggling the same two to three weapons in an attempt to destroy Space Satan.
FPS in general are not very popular in Japan mainly due to the fact that that genre is still fairly new there. From what I gather 3rd person shooters are much more popular there. I know KaosAngel lived in Japan for while so I think he might have a better answer.
"I think the question might be more along the lines of "is anime popular in the west?" which it is. It's entirely likely Microsoft just thought Halo anime would be cool and it doesn't really have anything to do with actually trying to appeal to their Japanese audience. It could also be an attempt to sell the Halo universe to a Japanese audience through a medium they'll accept. Whatever the case I highly doubt Halo enjoys much popularity over there. "
Not 100% sure but I am pretty certain after that first week it almost completely fell off the charts, at least far down enough to not even matter compared to other titles. "
does Japan always sell that low every week? damn! those sales are pretty pitiful.. EDIT: never mind. i saw it said lowest selling week "
Even then, you also have to remember Japan doesn't have near as many people as other places too :P "
What are you talking about? Over 100 million people live in Japan. They're one of the most populated countries in the world, and also one of the biggest video game markets.
@Karmum: They still don't even have half the population of the US though (which is more when you factor in the rest of NA buying games on this part of the world). So yeah they don't have as many people as other regions where games are sold.
@Zenaxzd: Oh man, I'm not getting into this argument. Over 100 million people isn't a lot and being the 10th most populous country in the World? Oh, okay. I guess every country under the United States isn't that populated. Good logic right there.
Check some of the game sales in Japan, they're ridiculous. I won't bother linking some to you, because I think you need to see for yourself.
@Karmum: jfc dude chill, all I was saying is Japan is not as large as other regions video games are sold (NA/PAL primarily) which is true. You're the one twisting the words into saying Japan is not very populated.
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